Free Republic

James Wesley Rawles is probably one of the foremost survival preparation experts in America today. His survivalblog.com website has more than 135,000 readers, he is frequently a guest on national radio shows, and he has been interviewed in many influential newspapers and magazines. The new reprint of his novel “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse” has been hovering around the #100 mark on the Amazon ranking list for many months, which is a remarkable record. “Patriots” is a combination of a novel and a survivalism textbook, which made it difficult for the book to excel in both directions at the...

In my survivalist novel "Patriots", I included lots of descriptions of firearms used in various situations in order to illustrate that there is no single "perfect survival gun." Different situations are best handled by using different firearms. There are several requirements that must be considered in selecting guns for use on a farm, ranch, or survival retreat. First, and foremost, they must be versatile. A single gun might be pressed into service for shooting crows or starlings at 10 yards, rabbits or coyotes at 100 yards, or rattlesnakes at five feet. While there is no single gun that can handle...

...Preparedness activity is difficult to track statistically, since people who take measures are usually highly circumspect by nature, said Jim Rawles, the editor of www.survivalblog.com, a preparedness Web site. Nevertheless, interest in the survivalist movement “is experiencing its largest growth since the late 1970s,” Mr. Rawles said in an e-mail, adding that traffic at his blog has more than doubled in the past 11 months, with more than 67,000 unique visitors per week. And its base is growing. “Our core readership is still solidly conservative,” he said. “But in recent months I’ve noticed an increasing number of stridently green and...

Sunday October 4 2009 Notes from JWR: I'm scheduled to be guest on the Laura Ingraham syndicated talk radio show tomorrow (Monday, October 5th), to discuss preparedness topics, from 11:15 AM to 11:45 AM Eastern Time (8:15 AM to 8:45 AM Pacific Time.) She is heard on more than 300 radio stations, on XM Radio, and on the Internet in both live streaming and podcasts.

Lisa Bedford is what you'd imagine of a stereotypical soccer mom. She drives a white Tahoe SUV. An American flag flies outside her suburban Phoenix home. She sells Pampered Chef kitchen tools and likes to bake. Bedford and her husband have two young children, four dogs, and go to church on Sunday. But about a year ago, Bedford's homemaking skills went into overdrive. She began stockpiling canned food, and converted a spare bedroom into a giant storage facility. The trunk of each of her family's cars got its own 72-hour emergency kit—giant Tupperware containers full of iodine, beef jerky, emergency...

Officials and Experts Warn of Crash-Induced Unrest Numerous high-level officials and experts warn that the economic crisis could lead to unrest world-wide - even in developed countries: Today, Moody's warned that future tax rises and spending cuts could trigger social unrest in a range of countries from the developing to the developed world, that in the coming years, evidence of social unrest and public tension may become just as important signs of whether a country will be able to adapt as traditional economic metrics, that a fiscal crisis remains a possibility for a leading economy, and that 2010 would be...

Hardcore survivalists cherish what I call the "George Romero Scenario." It goes like this: The proverbial poop has hit the propeller. Cities collapse into chaos. But we, the prepared, are...well, we're prepared. We hunker in our rural bunkers, clutching our Super Whiz-Whacker 3000 combat arms, eagle-eyed and ready for any eventuality. We boldly fend off wave after ravenous wave of starving city folk who stagger at us like unstoppable zombies in a Romero horror flick. These zombies crave not our living flesh, but our six-gallon, mylar-lined superpails of dried lentils, our root cellars full of last year's carrots, and our...

I've read dozens, and I mean dozens, of lists telling me everything I need to have with me to survive. Usually there are no surprises. I know a flashlight, pocket knife, and water are musts, but every now and then I come across something that makes me say, "a-ha!" Here are thirteen of my favorites. Lightsticks. You can pick up one of these every time you wander into a Home Depot. They don't need batteries and can be hung around the neck with a string making it easier to spot everyone in your party when it gets dark. Wool socks...

MESA, Ariz. - Come what may, Donna and Aaron Bradshaw expect their spacious food pantry and emergency plan will carry them through. Shelves and shelves of home-canned vegetables and meats, dried grains, an electric generator and stored water promises reasonable sustainability for the Mormon family in Gilbert in a world where food riots, starvation and disaster-related food shortages are becoming a kind of norm. But the sharp spike in prices of staples such as bread, eggs, flour and milk at supermarkets has folks looking for options in food purchases and storage. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has...

We have had a number of open discussions here at FR for quite some time about the importance of personal emergency preparedness. Many of us have taken an interest in this subject for a long time, and have been working steadfastly toward being prepared for a real emergency, and this evening I thought I would share my progress on one phase of our plan, food. Anyone who knows anything about preparedness will tell you that the first thing you should do is make a plan that fits your personal needs. A bachelor has much different survival needs than a family...

Weekly Roundup - Living On Nothing Edition Category: Roundups | Comments(15) Did you hear about the guy that lives on nothing? No seriously, he lives on zero dollars a day. Meet Daniel Suelo, who lives in a cave outside Moab, Utah. Suelo has no mortgage, no car payment, no debt of any kind. He also has no home, no car, no television, and absolutely no “creature comforts.” But he does have a lot of creatures, as in the mice and bugs that scurry about the cave floor he’s called home for the last three years. To us, Suelo probably sounds...

I am making a list of emergency food storage items. Please tell me what you have stored or what you will be storing. Some of the things I have: powdered milk, flour, dried beans, rice, jerkey, water purification tabs.

INTERNATIONAL. Legendary global investor and chairman of Singapore- based Rogers Holdings, Jim Rogers said the lack of supply in agricultural products is especially concerning. This cycle may last for many years as no one is bringing new supply on stream, Rogers said. In a Yahoo Finance video clip Rogers explains the reasons he is bullish on agricultural commodities. As he sees it, "most agricultural products are still depressed on a historic basis." "The story is not over, not for a while," he said. "I don't see any reason it's going to be over for a few years because no one...

Bullet-makers are working around the clock, seven days a week, and still can't keep up with the nation's demand for ammunition.

Veterinarian Richard Kimball of Burns has noticed a disturbing trend among some of his friends. A Rockaway Beach couple has stockpiled food and assembled survival backpacks for their three adult children in Portland and Eugene. "If chaos arises, they can put the backpacks on so they can get home," said Kimball, 72. "There is a pistol in each of the backpacks." Another longtime friend, a Harney County cattle rancher, recently bought an AK-47 assault rifle and 1,000 rounds of ammunition. "Does that tell you anything?" Kimball asked. "He's scared." La Grande welder and gunsmith Jim Rector, meanwhile, said he has...

If you have been reading this blog then you know that I have been searching for a solution to pump water from a deep well that doesn’t require 220 power. Well, here it is. I can hook the air compressor that runs this system into a small solar generator and have all the water I need or want sans the power company. Thank you Mike Adams, the Health Ranger at naturalnews.com Video at site

Despite some really eloquent speeches to the contrary, our “for sale” House of Representatives passed the Food Fascism Act….euphemistically called a food safety act, by a margin of about 140 over the naysayer’s. True to form, Rosa DeLauro spoke about things she knows nothing about and couldn’t care less; Rosa just loves her some Monsanto! And that exclusion for farms??? Gone! And that includes you organic idiots who thought you had kissed enough behinds to have your industry excluded. The newly revised bill that appeared overnight after the original was defeated 29th of July, now includes all those farms we...

The most remarkable thing about civil unrest is that there hasn't been more of it. Politicians are making a hash of this country—and much of the rest of the civilized world. We know it. They know it. They know we know it. But we don't feel we can do anything much to stop them. That right there is the pre-condition for civil unrest—when people are frustrated and politicians are nervous. Worse, that was how things stood before last fall's crash. Before pols on both left and right launched the biggest mass transfer of wealth in history—transferring our wealth (what we...

I am a lifetime law-abiding gun owner and avid shooter. In my life I have had many occasions to buy firearms for sporting purposes. I have not had a need to own an AK-47 nor an opportunity to try one. I am told it is the finest assault rifle ever made. If I am in a situation wherein the AK-47 is the best choice, then I need to get one and I believe that I have that right guaranteed by the Second Amendment. Assuming that situation is in defense of my home or country, if an AK-47 makes the difference...

Many in the survivalist community like to focus on what I call the “Hollywood Disasters”. This includes things like a total economic collapse, an unstoppable virus, a biological weapons attack or perhaps a complete shut down of the electrical grid. Now please do not misunderstand me, each of these threats is real and honestly could happen. My question to you is how likely are any of them to occur in the next 30 days, how about the next 10 years? Now answer these questions for yourself… What is more likely to happen tomorrow morning, you lose your job or we...

Your right to eat healthy food and use supplements of your choice is rapidly vanishing, but every effort has been made to keep you in the dark about the coming nutricide. Codex Alimentarius is scheduled for full global implementation on December 31, 2009, and not a word has been spoken in main stream media about this threat to humanity. Yet, according to the projections based on figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a minimum of 3 billion people will die from the Codex mandated vitamin and mineral guideline alone. Former Nazi is...

Somewhere West of the Rockies - -(AmmoLand.com)- AmmoLand.com’s featured Gun Blogger of the Month, for August 2009, is the SurvivalBlog.com. James Wesley, Rawles (JWR) is a survivalist author and lecturer. JWR is also the editor of www.SurvivalBlog.com. “I’m also a former U.S. Army intelligence officer, and now work as a full-time blogger and freelance writer. This blog reflects my interests. I’ve been an enthusiastic survivalist since my teenage years. I grew up in the Bomb Shelter era, and that mind set just never wore off” says James Wesley, Rawles. The first amazing thing about the SurvivalBlog.com is JWR has not...

I offer pure speculation. I wasn’t there. I don’t have the details. But much as others seem to believe the life experience that comes from being black qualifies them to opine without specific knowledge, surely my 30-some years as a police officer permits me to also guess at what happened when Cambridge, Mass., police officers arrived at the home of Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. Gates’ angst probably originated when he didn’t get the expected Harvard professor’s treatment, the absence of which he appears to have attributed to racism on the cop’s part. I’ll agree the cop probably...

CHICAGO (Reuters Life!) - Armed with pruning shears and a paper bag, Nance Klehm walks along a Chicago sidewalk, pointing out plants and weeds that can make a tasty salad or stir-fry. She snips stalks from a weed with downy leaves and white powder commonly called goosefoot or lamb's quarters. "I collect a lot of this," said Klehm, 43. "It's indistinguishable from spinach when you cook it. I never, never grow spinach or other greens except kale. Everything else I forage." Klehm is among a small group of urban foragers across the United States who collect weeds and plants from...

Some, and perhaps more than we imagine, economic sectors are immune to the failing economic policies of the Obama Regime. Those industries being driven by the dominant global trends should be somewhat resilient to the ongoing economic problems of the U.S. However, none will totally escape as the U.S. is such an important economic center of consumption. How do investors escape this reliance on U.S. economic activity level? The answer is, quite simply, Agri-Food. Investors, particularly those in the U.S., are being exposed to a grand period of illusory economic statistics. The U.S. Federal Reserve has injected more than a...

Some see the current economic downturn as tough — but temporary — times to be endured. But others see it as a harbinger of even grimmer days ahead. So they’re preparing for the worst by stockpiling food: piles and piles and piles of it. Call them “suburban survivalists,” or call them, well, a little goofy. But they’re dead serious about being ready for a big crash … by making sure they have a nice little nosh in case of a catastrophe. Across the country, there are people preparing for the possibility that we will not have access to food by...

It turns out that last fall when our financial system was near a collapse, the Bush administration and Congress had discussions about a potential breakdown of law and order in our country. They also talked about how the nation’s people would be fed and how long the food supply would last. Scary stuff in this article. We’re not crazy after all!!! A major economic collapse is one of the things we SurvivalMoms are preparing for. I hope this article confirms what you already know deep down inside: if your family is to survive and thrive, it will be because of...

HR 2749 is being rushed through Congress, and the house may look to suspend the rules and fast track the bill at Obama’s request. Just what can we expect from this legislation? A lot more of the following: Dick Peixoto planted hedges of fennel and flowering cilantro around his organic vegetable fields in the Pajaro Valley near Watsonville to harbor beneficial insects, an alternative to pesticides. He has since ripped out such plants in the name of food safety, because his big customers demand sterile buffers around his crops. No vegetation. No water. No wildlife of any kind. “I was...

The first 72 hours following any disaster are the most critical, but it's also during those intial hours that emergency services and personnel are stretched to the limit. With a system of carefully planned 72 Hour Kits, your family can be self-sufficient until help arrives. 72 Hour Kits, or Bug Out Bags, are those handy-dandy, all-in-one grab bags that, theoretically, could keep you and your family in good shape during a three day emergency. How well they do their job depends on how well-equipped they are for your family's particular needs. Think of your 72 Hour System as three layers...

Since 52% of American voters were foolish enough to buy the story that Barack Hussein Obama is some sort of "liberal messiah," I thought it would be interesting to compare the belief systems of America's father of liberalism and author of our Declaration of Independence, with the Marxist belief system of the false messiah. And since today's liberals have so much trouble properly interpreting our Founders' simple message to future generations, I am under no illusion that these facts will carry anymore weight with modern Marxists than Article II - Section I of the Constitution, which clearly states that Barack...

It's unanimous: We all want violence against women to stop. In fact, nine out of 10 women said that ending domestic violence and sexual assault should be the top priority for a new women's movement (according to the Center for the Advancement of Women) -- and also for every politician. There are ways you can make this happen -- for one woman, and for all.

A Virginia Republican's fierce call to resist President Obama's political agenda -- with bullets if necessary -- ignited an outcry on the Internet yesterday, and forced her to clarify that she was not looking to incite any violence. Appearing at a "Tea Party" rally on Wednesday to protest President Obama's expansion of government, Catherine Crabill, a political neophyte running for the House of Delegates in the Northern Neck, quoted from a March 1775 speech by Patrick Henry and then went further, calling on Americans to resist the course Obama has set for the country. "We have a chance to fight...

As a master zombie scholar it is my duty to fulfill the queries of the people, and I am happy to oblige. Mallory “Subsister” Morrow dropped me a line asking which is the superior weapon class for use in a zombie outbreak. An exhaustive number of factors must be taken into account when preparing for any life-threatening situation, and a war with the walking dead is no exception. First, some people hold to the notion that machine guns and shotguns will dominate when our fair planet is overrun. These pre-dead are notoriously difficult to persuade and must be denied entrance...

MADISON, WI -- JULY 14, 2009 -- The stress of rising natural gas prices is leading many consumers to rethink how they heat their homes. For some this means moving towards modern alternative energy options, while others have been turning to a more traditional method for a solution to these rising costs. In Canada and the United States, wood burning stoves have been reevaluated as a potentially viable option for home heating. The case for modern woodstoves has developed with the improvement of the products on the market, as wood heating technology has substantially advanced in recent years. With the...

There are no layoffs, no furloughs and no signs of a recession at gun stores such as Barnwood Arms in Ripon. A spike in sales that began after Barack Obama won November's presidential election continued throughout the spring, with the FBI reporting dramatic monthly increases in the number of background checks it performed on would-be gun buyers. Although the Obama administration hasn't taken a strong stand on gun laws, customers are betting that a Democrat in the White House and a Democratic-controlled Congress will translate into stricter gun-control laws and perhaps the revival of a national assault rifle ban that...

President Barack Obama may never have fired a gun but he is turning out to be one of the best firearms salesmen in American history. I've sold probably four times as much in the last six months as I have in 20 years combined," said Cliff Hunter, owner of Tommy Bronson Sporting Goods in Memphis. "Hand guns and the tactical weapons, they're absolutely off the charts." Most of his gun sales used to be for hunting, or personal protection in a city riddled with crime. But just before the November election, anxiety that Mr Obama would win and enact a...

No matter how you approach it, summer grilling is a lose-lose situation for Mother Nature. Are you cookin’ veggie burgers over natural, low-impact lump charcoal that you fired up with a chimney starter? You’re still also cookin' up an ample amount of air pollution. Are you serving local veggie kabobs expertly grilled over a gas-powered flame? You’re generating less sooty particles but that gas, as you’re probably aware, is a nonrenewable resource. What about that free-range chicken cooked over an electric grill? If it's plugged in, you're generating greenhouse gases there, too. If you gotta grill, you gotta grill (but...

Had a good turnout for the ultimate backwoods teaparty. It's raining right now in Indy and we had our teaparty/gun shoot yesterday. We knew it would be raining today so we had our event yesterday. Made some noise, shot some guns, set off some explosives in celebration of the the 4th at an undisclosed location in Indiana. Heard the news about Gov. Palin resigning, coupled with the Gov. Sanford self destruction, we feel there is no hope left. Powder is dry. For those who feel the need to point out that we are now on the DHS most wanted list...

HOLLYWOOD — Clearly the Obama administration needs to address the issue of teacher salaries and fast. On AMC's "Breaking Bad," Bryan Cranston is playing a science teacher making meth, and now we have Thomas Jane as Ray Drecker, a high-school basketball coach-turned-male prostitute in HBO's "Hung." Both are men of middle age who find themselves undone by fate — Cranston's Walter White has cancer, Ray's wife has left him and he's lost his home to fire — and a lack of ambition. Both are angry at a world that seems to have reneged on earlier promises so, with their personal...

We have accumulated probably 3-6 months worth of stuff thus far, a good chunk of it being dry and canned goods, but more and more I am eying that deep freeze and all the food in it, because although there have been discussions of a generator purchase, we still don’t have one and I am very wary of the possibility that a power loss will render most of it useless. Another motivation is the fact that dried food lasts for so much longer and loses far less nutrients than canning, and I would like to use or save every bit...

Have I told you about my Scarlett O’Hara moment? It was a couple of years ago when a hurricane was just hours away from coastal Florida. The news video showed a bewildered looking woman staring at empty grocery store shelves. At that moment I said, “As God is my witness, that will never be me!” I vowed to never be the woman on TV who hadn’t given a serious thought of preparing for a disaster and now stood, vulnerable, to whatever dangers lay ahead. Taking steps to be prepared for various emergency situations or a significant downturn in our economy...

Pat McHugh invented the Space Blanket, an amazing piece of survival gear that has changed the face of emergency care for decades. McHugh said millions of Space Blankets were sent to help victims of the Indonesian tsunami a couple of years ago. But such large-scale disasters form only part of the basis of survival and outdoors gear McHugh has designed and represented. One of my favorites is an MPI outdoors backpack with a single shoulder strap that allows shooting a rifle while wearing the pack. But, while he said hunters and fishermen usually possess all the gear they need to...

The never-ending rain may be wreaking havoc with everyone's weekend plans this summer, but at the White House Garden this week, it was hailed as the reason the crops were so lush and abundant. As fifth grade students picked 73 pounds of lettuce and 12 pounds of peas, assistant White House Chef Sam Kass noted that the garden had flourished quickly due to the downpours, the Washington Post reported. Besides the lettuce and peas, the 1,100-suare foot, L-shaped garden has also produced beans, kale, chard, collard greens and herbs, Kass told the paper. The White House kitchen has been turning...

While the credit crunch has caused life-changing hardships for many, some, believing the world is on the verge of a major depression, have taken to living off the land, regardless of how hard it is. Seven years ago, Viktor Sergienko felt life in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev had become too stressful. On top of that he had read several books that claim a big world crisis was imminent. The software engineer decided not to hesitate and prepared for the worse. In 2007 he bought a small house in the countryside. Last September Viktor was among the few who could...

Some low-moisture foods such as dried apples can be safe to eat even years after their expiration date, if properly stored, food chemists say. They verified this in a tasting experiment of 28-year-old rolled oats. Heat, moisture and light can degrade food's nutritional value. The next time you find forgotten food in the pantry, don't just toss it. Keeping food past its expiration date may not seem like a good idea, but certain foods last a lot longer than you think -- years longer.

Buying canned groceries and extra bags of flour and sugar have been the easiest part of food storage for me. Dehydrating my own food seemed to belong in the same category as spinning my own wool. Yes, it can be done, but why would I want to go through all the trouble??! I found out for myself that dehydrating my own food is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to stock up. Now, if I say it’s easy, you know. It’s easy! The foods are fresh with no additives of any kind, so I know exactly what my...

Survival in the city, it's not just for extremists anymore. From natural calamities to an economic collapse, would you be prepared to make it on your own if a huge disaster hit us tomorrow? Ainsley Earhardt reports in this "Hannity" special investigation.

Let me be clear about two very important things before I continue in this article. 1. This is not going to be anything about how personal income tax is unconstitutional. While I actually believe it is, right now if you don’t pay it you get in a lot of trouble, you must pay all your legal tax obligations. 2. I am not a tax expert or a financial adviser. This article is more about exactly how to think about taxes then the specifics of how to reduce them. Cutting to the chase on this let me say when it comes...

Bryce sent me this great link to a very interesting study on women defending themselves from rape and the success rates of these methods. Huge hat tip to him as this is awesome. For those on dial up I will sum it up. Women who used non violent methods of resistance (crying, pleading, etc) were raped about 96% of the time. Women who used forceful verbal resistance (yelling, screaming) were raped about half the time. Running works better then yelling as the women who ran were raped about 15% of the time. Forceful physical resistance is slightly more successful than...

I don’t remember when I first become convinced that homeschooling was the only type of education I wanted for our children. I do know it was long before I ever became pregnant! Now that we’ve finished our fifth year of homeschooling and we’ve started taking “prepping” seriously, I’m more glad than ever that we chose this route for our family. Homeschooling provides a continuous flow of education in spite of changing circumstances. A dramatic decline in income might force a family to move to another neighborhood, city, or even to a different state. Other than losing some time in the...